Luciano Bodini (born 12 February 1954, in

Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

) is a retired Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, who played in the position of goalkeeper.

Career

Bodini began his career with

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

(1974–77), before moving to Atalanta (1977–79), where he managed to gain a place in the team's starting line-up despite initial competition from

Pierluigi Pizzaballa Pierluigi Pizzaballa (; born 14 September 1939) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Pizzaballa started his club career with Atalanta B.C., where he became one of the Serie A's top Italian goalkeepers, before ...

. He later also played with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

(1979–89), Verona (1989–90), and Inter (1990–91). According to some sources, he is among the few players to have won all three major UEFA-organised club competitions. He was able to accomplish this feat during his time with

between 1979 and 1989 (where he served mainly as the understudies of Dino Zoff and subsequently Stefano Tacconi, although he briefly was able to break into the Juventus starting line-up due to his excellent performances), and with Inter, during the final season of his career, serving as a backup to Walter Zenga. Because of this, he was often known by the nickname: "the best reserve goalkeeper in Italy".

Style of play

Despite his relatively small stature for a goalkeeper, Bodini was a reliable and effective shot-stopper, who stood out for the consistency of his performances throughout his career. A well-rounded keeper, he was equally known for his ability to come out and handle crosses, as well as his adeptness at rushing off his line or getting to ground quickly to parry shots.

Honours

Club

;Juventus * Serie A champion: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86 (on the roster, but did not play any league games except for the 1983–84 and 1985–86 seasons). * Coppa Italia winner: 1982–83. *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

winner: 1984–85. * UEFA Super Cup winner:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. * Intercontinental Cup winner:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

1954 births Living people Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie C players US Cremonese players Atalanta BC players Juventus FC players Hellas Verona FC players Inter Milan players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from the Province of Brescia People from Leno {{Italy-footy-goalkeeper-stub